LET ME IN
by vapid ravenclaw
Summary: in which kakashi introduces team 7 to his pack earlier than in canon. the resulting consequences for one haruno sakura are… interesting to say the least. alternatively: haruno sakura is a nosy little thing with insatiable curiosity, of course she attempted to mimic her sensei's super cool jutsu (only after very thorough research, of course).
1. BOAR

in which kakashi introduces team 7 to his pack earlier than in canon. the resulting consequences for one haruno sakura are… interesting to say the least.

alternatively: haruno sakura is a nosy little thing with insatiable curiosity, of course she attempted to mimic her sensei's super cool jutsu (only after very thorough research, of course).

**31 January 1216 A.S. - 06:59 **

A young girl rolled over in bed to escape the rays of sunlight peeking through the blinds of her bedside window. She stuffed her face in her pillow with a quiet grunt of annoyance which gave way to a drawn out whine at the sound of her alarm echoed in the bare bones of her room.

Sighing, the young girl rolled out bed onto her tip toes and stretched, yawning in a rather unladylike fashion all the while (there was no Sasuke to see her here, after all). Grumbling incoherently to herself, she quickly slammed her hand on top of the contraption to cease it's endless blaring and shuffled her way through her morning routine.

Today was sure to be a long day, one full of manual labor - work, which, in her professional opinion, was ill-suited for a shinobi such as herself. Humming a nonsensical tune to fill the silence, she began to unbraid her long hair and carefully run her fingers through the tresses, nearly tripping down the stairs as she gets distracted by a particularly stubborn knot.

She glimpsed herself in the reflection of her mother's favorite artwork and deemed herself decent enough for the outside world, tugging her forehead protector up to use as a headband. Satisfied with her appearance, she shuffled down the hall to the kitchen. A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she caught sight of the bento lying inside of the ice box. Her mom may disapprove of her choice in career, but she found ways to show her love and support in the small things.

Spotting the clock out of the corner of her eye, she very nearly swore (but little girls don't swear. no, no, no). If she didn't leave now, she wouldn't get there before Sasuke-kun!

She rushed to put her sandals on, throw her bag over her shoulder and lock the door on her way out. She only had 10 minutes to make it to the training ground if she wanted to arrive before her teammates but she refused to run. If she ran, she might tangle her hair or ruffle her clothes and she didn't want Sasuke-kun to see her all red-faced and sweaty and panting. It just wasn't a good look on her, or anybody really, even Ino (the pig) couldn't pull off the dirty and exhausted look that came with exercise.

Waving at a fruit vendor her father does business with, the girl wondered what her team had to look forward to today. Fence painting? Gardening? Babysitting? Some actual training? She scoffed; even if Kakashi-sensei did decide to hold a training session, it would likely consist of her two male teammates sparring while she sat on the sidelines reading the textbook she kept in her bag. As interesting as chakra theory was, it would be nice to learn something from the man who was assigned as her sensei instead of teaching herself.

Puffing out her cheeks, she physically shook those thoughts out of her head and put on a cheerful smile as the trees surrounding Training Ground 3 came into her visual. Neither Sasuke-kun nor Naruto had arrived yet and Kakashi-sensei was sure to be at least two hours late; so, the girl gently dropped into a sitting position beside one of the trees and let the sound of the river lull her into a meditative state. She'd been attempting meditation lately as her textbook stated it was effective in expanding one's chakra reserves (plus, it had been helpful in curbing her… wrath when it came to Naruto-baka's antics).

The pink-haired member of Team 7 was both a girl and of a civilian family so her reserves weren't exactly impressive; if she wanted to beat her rival, she'd have to fix that.

**31 January 1216 A.S. - 08:06 **

She carefully squinted her eyes open at the sound of gentle rustling and caught a glimpse of her crush stretching, his hair falling to fan over his face as he bent to touch his toes. The girl couldn't keep her eyes from widening and the soft, dreamy sigh from leaving her lips but quickly slammed her eyes shut again when the Uchiha tilted his head at the sound. She pretended to still be immersed in her meditation as best as she could, Sasuke-kun didn't like it when she interrupted his "pre-mission ritual", she'd learned that the hard way (shut up, you're annoying me).

The obnoxious sound of feet running across the grass signaled the arrival of her other teammate;, as did the yell he let loose just feet away from her, "Hi, Sakura-chan!"

"Idiot. You don't need to yell."

"No one asked you, bastard! I was talking to Sakura-chan!"

Snapping her eyes open into a glare directed at her orange-clad teammate, Sakura stood with a huff and brushed off her dress. She picked up her things and then turned to look at him in mild disgust, "You may be talking to me, but _I'm_ not talking to _you_."

She then walked to the other side of the clearing and began to read her book, "The Theory of Chakra: Spiritual and Physical". The young girl studiously ignored the blonde's cries and the scoffs and grunts her crush used in place of an actual reply (so cool). Instead, she allowed herself to become engrossed in the concept of ninjutsu creation through shape manipulation.

At least, that was the plan.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, you made a bento! Can I see? Can I? Can I? Can I, please? I've never made a bento and I'm _starving_ because I woke up late this morning and didn't have time to wait for the microwave so I couldn't have any ramen. Not that I want to eat your food, Sakura-chan, it's just that sometimes I like to smell it whe-"

"Take it."

"Wha-? Sakura-chan, I can't just-"

"Take it. I already ate, my mom just made this for lunch so take it. You can't complete missions on an empty stomach, idiot," Sakura rolled her eyes as she insistently held out the bento box.

The Uzumki hesitantly, almost gingerly, took the bento from his crush and softly uttered his gratitude, "Uh, thanks Saukra-chan."

"Mhm, now go away. I'm trying to study."

"Ahhhh, you're so smart Sakura-chan!" Naruto gushed as he held the bento securely to his chest. Catching a glimpse of her stern face, he chuckled nervously and went to sit a ways away. Best to not to incite her rage, lest he get a punch to the skull.

Huffing irritably, Sakura resumed her reading.

As predicted, Kakashi-sensei didn't appear for another two hours.

"Hello, my adorable students! Today, we'll-"

"YOU'RE LATE!" came the twin screams of Sakura and Naruto.

"Hn," followed the standard Uchiha grunt.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Kakashi feigned nervousness, "Ah, you see, a young woman's hat flew away in the wind. And what kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't hunt it down for her?"

"It's not even windy!"

"And you're not a gentleman."

"Hn."

"I'm hurt," their sensei deadpanned, "but, as I was saying: today, we'll be leaving the village for the first time as a team!" He finished with a clap of his hands his usual eye-smile.

"What!" exclaimed the orange-clad genin, "I've never left Konoha before! What's our mission? Are we finally getting a C-rank? Are we guarding a foreign princess? Escorting samurais? Ooh, ooh! Are we gonna save the daimyo from some bad guys?"

Sakura hated to admit it but she was just as excited (and slightly terrified). She had never been allowed to leave the village before either, no matter how much she begged her father to take her on the trips he took to foreign villages. She was filled with exhilaration at the idea of seeing new things and meeting new people but she was also filled with terror at the same time. She may be naive, but she certainly wasn't ignorant; those new things and new people could mean their deaths.

And, from the slight smirk curving his lips, Sasuke was feeling every bit of her elation and none of her fear (duh, Sasuke-kun isn't scared of anything).

"Ah," Kakashi chuckled, "not quite. We'll only be going a couple of miles out to one of the rice farms. The farmers are having a rat problem this season. Our mission is to hunt down the threats and eliminate them."

Sakura cringed at the word "eliminate". Although she'd done it before, she really hated killing animals, even rats. Neither Naruto nor Sasuke looked too thrilled at the idea either. Though, for them, it likely had more to do with the implications of the mission rank than the undesirable order to kill. Pest control was generally considered a D-rank mission after all.

The mission turned out to be unexpectedly grueling work. Also, gross.

On top of rooting out every little rat family hiding in and around the rice fields, Team 7 had been ordered to kill off the insects that were living off of the rice. It would be impractical to spend hours searching for every itty-bitty bug so other measures had to be taken.

Sakura held the insulated jar in hands with just the very tips of her fingers and tried not to think about the things crawling around inside. She hated bugs, hate hate hated them.

"Here, Sakura-chan!"

Hurriedly, Sakura ran to the sound of her sensei's voice, careful not to jostle the jar too much lest it pop open. Once she reached the corner of the field where Kakashi-sensei stood reading his book, she held the jar out to him with wide eyes and hoped he'd take it off her hands. Not looking up from his book, her sensei hummed and instructed her to let the creatures loose at the base of the outermost rice plant's stem.

Shuddering, Sakura knelt down, quickly unscrewed the cap of the jar, and practically threw it down at the plant's base. She quickly scrambled backwards as hundreds of wolf spiders scattered into the rice field. Disgusting.

She looked to her teacher for approval and hoped he wouldn't make her repeat the process. This was her third jar and she never wanted to see another spider ever again.

"Maa, Sakura-chan. Go see Takeji-san for another batch."

"Sensei, please. Please, please, please. Anything else!"

"Hmm, you want to help with the rats again? You didn't seem to like that very much."

"Please, sensei. Just no more spiders." Sakura was willing to get her hands dirty if it meant avoiding the eight-legged creatures.

"Okay then. The largest colony is in the Southwest region of the main field. Off you go."

"By myself?" she squeaked. Get rid of the largest colony by herself? If it was the largest, that meant it was bigger than the one her and Sasuke-kun had cleared earlier which had eight burrows. That means there was at least nine burrows in this colony. That means there was at least a hundred rats to eliminate. _That_ means Kakashi-sensei wanted her to kill one hundred rats, _by herself._

Kakashi sighed heavily as he finally shut his book and gave the pink-haired girl his attention. "I suppose I could help you out…"

Sakura nodded rapidly, "Yes, please. Thank you sensei."

"Maa, it's not me you should thank Sakura-chan. I'm not the one that's going to be doing the work, after all."

Sakura tilted her head in confusion and then furrowed her brow as her sensei began a series of hand signs. _Boar. Dog. Bird. Monkey Ram._ Then he slammed his hand down and a large circle of symbols spread out around him. She gawked in disbelief and awe as a pack dogs appeared around her teacher in a cloud of smoke.

Kakashi-sensei eye smiled at her look of astonishment and motioned toward his pack with a lazy wave of his hand, "These guys will be your temporary teammates for the duration of your mission."

The dogs were going to help her? Were they ninken like the Inuzukas' partners? Either way, this is the best she was going to get so she may as well go along with it.

"Uh, hi?" Sakura smiled nervously at the largest dog in the group, a huge, dark, bully dog with a spiked collar.

However, it wasn't he who replied but the smallest dog amongst them, "Hey kid. I'm Pakkun and that dumb bag of bricks is Bull." Pakkun's voice was startling because it didn't match his appearance at all; where he was small and kind of cute, his voice was deep and hoarse.

The pug-like dog went on to introduce the rest of the pack to the little pink-haired girl, "The grey one behind Bull's Urushi. Don't let his looks fool you, he's the softest of us. The one next to him with the stupid hairdo is Shiba,he's the real asshole of the pack but he's effective," he then motioned his head to the small, tan dog next to him, "This one's Bisuke, he's the second smartest of the pack (me being the first). The idiot with the sunglasses is Akino; he can talk but he prefers not to so don't take offense. The one hiding behind Kashi-kun is Guruko, he's got the best nose. And last, and definitely least, is Ūhei. He's boring."

Sakura's eyes bounced around the pack, frantically trying to catalog the rapid input of information. She had an excellent memory but the quick telling of names and the shock of talking dogs was kind of hindering her ability to process her thoughts. She internally raged at her sensei for dropping all of this information on her without warning while he stood there with a smile.

"Nice to meet you all! Thank you for helping me," Sakura bowed with a polite smile.

"Eh, no problem kid. C'mon then, lead the way to the mission site."

"Ah, yes. Of course, no problem. Follow me," she rambled nervously. She was leading the mission? Sakura knows it's not _really_ a mission, it's a _task_ that's _part_ of their mission. But, still… she's never played the lead on a mission, even in the academy exercises. It was always Ino or one of the male clan kids like Sasuke-kun or Kiba-san.

Bull snorted and nosed her in the direction of the rat colony and Sakura jolted, "Wait! Do you already know where we're going?"

"Yeah kid, we can smell them from here."

That. Was. So. Cool! Sakura's not even mad that they're making her lead the way even though they know where to go. The colony has to be at least a kilometer away and they can smell them? She _has_ to get a ninken.

Not too much later, Sakura watched as Shiba licked the blood from his paws while Pakkun attempted to wipe his off in a nearby patch of grass, his cute face twisted in disgust. The rest of the pack was sitting around a pile of dead rats (ew, ew, ew) and awaiting orders.

Sakura hated to ask but, "You didn't eat any of them?"

Pakkun gave her a look of revulsion and the one in the glasses (Akino?) grunted, "No."

Realizing she might have implied something offensive, she quickly changed the subject, "So, how did you become Kakashi-sensei's summons?"

Pakkun gave up on cleaning his paws and padded his way over to Sakura to sit beside her in the dirt, "Our summoning contract runs in the Hatake family. We're the first all 'domestic' dog pack to exist though, most of the previous packs were a mix of 'domestic' and 'wild' or just 'wild' dogs. Kashi-kun raised us all as puppies and we, in turn, trained with him, watched him grow, and agreed to protect him."

"So, if one wanted to create their own pack how would they do that?"

Pakkun side-eyed the pinkette and seemed to contemplate whether he wanted to answer her question for a minute. Finally, he turned to look at her more directly, "Summoning contracts are very serious business, kid. They're for life and they're an agreement to work with and protect each other for the duration of your life. They're also not easy to come across. Most contracts are passed down through clans, through senseis, or, more rarely, found in obscure or abandoned locations," the small dog sighed frustratedly, "Basically, you're not likely to ever get a summoning contract. Not unless you apprentice for another sensei with a contract they're willing to pass down to you."

"What about Kakashi-sensei?" She asked confusedly, "Why can't he give his contract to one of us?"

"We're the last. There's, uh, no female ninken left in our summoning world. And, no offense kid, but none of us really want to be attached to anyone who's not Kakashi. We'll probably die with him."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well, this sucks."

As she, the boys, and Kakashi-sensei walked back to the village Sakura thought about Pakkun's words. The only way to get a contract was through a sensei, a clan, or some random discovery.

It wasn't fair. Sakura wasn't a clan kid, or some rich civilian with connections, or someone with the ability to travel outside of the village. Everyone else around her seemed to have things so much easier. Her whole graduating class belonged to a clan and had so many advantages over her.

_"You're not likely to get a summoning contract."_

But, did she really need a contract to perform a summons?

This… would require more research.

* * *

edited to change date formatting, still don't know what i'm doing :)


	2. DOG

**31 January**** 1216 A.S. – 22:42 **

Sakura let out a groan as her head fell to bounce against the table. She was sure she made quite the picture at the moment; a bedraggled, pink-haired little girl surrounded on all sides by books that piled up to a height greater than her own when standing, groaning like a pitiful old man and on the verge of frustrated tears. She had been in Konoha library for 6 hours and she still hadn't found what she needed.

She wasn't about to give up, she couldn't afford to. Sakura had decided that _this_ was going to be what saved her from a life of obscurity, this was going to be what made her sensei and Sasuke-kun and Ino-pig notice her and take her seriously, this was what was going be how she insured her survival in the shinobi world.

Sakura steadfastly ignored the voice in the back of her head that kept telling her what she was trying to do was impossible, against the rules, not allowed, not for little civilian nobodies like her. Suzume-sensei always told the girls in the academy that nothing was impossible for shinobi, not if you were willing to reach out and take what you wanted. So, Sakura was going to _taketaketake_ whatever secrets, whatever information, _whatever she needed_ to make this work.

She had always been determined to get what she wanted, focused on doing whatever it took to the point of tunnel vision; it was just, until that evening, she had put all that determination into being a _good girl,_ a good future wife for Sasuke-kun, a good daughter for her parents.

However, earlier that day, when she met Kakashi-sensei's pack, Sakura had caught a glimpse of something she desired more than the approval of Sasuke-kun and her parents. She had seen a sense of loyalty and camaraderie that one usually only read about in books or heard from stories of old. Pakkun and the others were willing to die for her sensei, _wanted_ to die when he was no longer among the living. They lived and breathed for him and, from the look in his eye when he called upon them, the feeling was mutual for her sensei.

They were a pack.

And, well… Sakura has never had a pack, people who loved her unconditionally and would, without hesitation, take a kunai for her. The only people who came close to such a thing were her parents; and, even then, their love and devotion did not come without judgment and scorn. Sakura wanted what Kakashi-sensei had. And she was determined to get it.

(a part of her thinks this is so silly. she is silly. she's not strong enough, important enough, good enough to take things and make things and do things that shinobi do. she should just go home like a good girl and smile at her father, ask him about his day, and go to sleep smelling like flowers and dreaming about sasuke-kun. she'll wake up in the morning and do the same things she does everyday, be ignored by her team and remain little civilian sakura-chan. be a genin forever. afterall, what does it matter if she's going to be sasuke-kun's wife?)

Sakura's internal monologue was interrupted by the sound of a deliberately loud clearing of the throat, "The library closes in 16 minutes, young lady. I expect every book on this table to be back in it's proper place before the lights go out."

Sakura felt her face twist into a mask of annoyance and took in a deep breath to calm herself before she lifted her head to face the intruder; after all, it wasn't the woman she was annoyed at, it was herself (good girls don't lose track of time and blame it on other people, idiot).

Iridescent green met steel grey as Sakura forced her hazy vision to focus on the intruder's eyes rather than the sea of red she was clothed in. She was a woman who looked to be about her mother's age, with hair a dark shade of brown, grey eyes, a sickly pale complexion, and standing at a height that couldn't be much greater than Sakura's own. She was wearing red leggings under her red dress which went with the red headband adorning her head. She wasn't exactly what one pictured when they imagined a librarian; but, then again, Sakura wasn't exactly what one pictured when they imagined a shinobi.

Sakura sighed as she took in the woman's stern countenance, "I'm sorry Librarian-san, I'll put these back right away."

Sakura dragged herself to her feet and stared in resentment at the numerous books she had gathered. There were 5 stacks in total, each named according to their usefulness and relevance to her quest: "worthless", "useless", "useless but interesting", "possibly useful", and "these books mentioned the word 'summon', so.. there's that." Grumbling quietly to herself, she decided to start with the "possibly useful" stack since it had the least amount of books. She quickly and efficiently put the 4 books back in their rightful places and returned to the corner of the library she had claimed for herself and was surprised to find the red librarian still there.

"Summoning, huh?" the woman snorted as she sorted through the piles of books Sakura had painstakingly organized to her liking. Sakura spotted "Chakra Interpretation and How It Relates to Jutsu Performance" lying on top of "Why Tea Ceremonies Summon Feelings of Comfort" and felt her eye twitch in irritation.

Sakura sucked in a calming breath before replying, "No offense, Librarian-san, but I don't see how that's any of your business."

Librarian-san tilted her head in her direction and stared for a minute with her eyebrow lifted in affront. Sakura's face reddened in embarrassment at her cheek and opened her mouth to apologize, but before she could, the woman snorted again and turned back to her task of destroying Sakura's organized piles.

"Not that it's any of my business, kunoichi-chan," the res woman sing-songed in a lilting, mocking tone, "but - as the Head Librarian of Konoha Library - I happen to be quite knowledgeable of all things shinobi. In fact, I'm probably one of the only civilians in all of Konoha who even know what it is you're trying to accomplish."

Face still red and ears still warm, but with a glint of hope in her eyes, Sakura stares wide-eyed at the red woman unassumingly leafing through the books splayed out on the table. She licks her lips as she opens her mouth to plead for her help but swallows the words back.

Just because this woman knows what she seeks, does not mean she will give the answer to her.

Instead, Sakura sighs quietly and goes to pick up another stack of books. She is stopped by a thin hand much paler than her own with sharp red nails and odd, fading black tattoos swirling up and disappearing behind the long sleeve of the woman's red, red dress.

(red, red, red. like blood. but no, blood is much darker than this red, isn't it? sakura knows. she's seen it against her calloused palms and felt the adrenaline rush mix with her nausea as she stared and stared and stared)

The hand gently squeezes her wrist and Sakura looks up to meet the woman's grey eyes once again, they are narrowed as the woman stares into her very soul and Sakura wonders if this woman is about to throw her out of the library for her attitude.

"Why don't you follow me?" Is what comes out of the woman's red-lined lips instead.

And Sakura follows.

* * *

11/22: edited to change date formatting


	3. BIRD

**1216 A.S. - ?**

It had been days.

It must have been days. She couldn't know for sure how long it had been, but it had been… a while.

She had counted up to 240 seconds, equal to 4 minutes, over 800 times since she had entered her temporary shelter; however, she had also dozed off for periods of time and lost count some 10 times so that couldn't be accurate. Either way, it means that she's been here for at least 2 days, probably 3. Who knows, she's given up on counting.

She stared down at the faint white, wonky lines she had scraped into the floor of the cave with a small rock she'd found and tried not to look at the- the _thing._

Her foot twitched slightly when she heard one of her guards? watchers? caretakers? pad into the cave. They huffed loudly at the sight of her uneaten meal but she refused to raise her head at the provocation.

She had tried to tell them that she wasn't hungry (she really wasn't, she wasn't hungry or tired or thirsty or… much of anything really) but they kept bringing her the… meat.

Another, quieter, huff came from them and they brushed themselves against her in a gesture of comfort that she couldn't help but return in some desperate desire for touch with a press of her shoulders. They gently grasped their offering of food and left her to her lonesome once again.

Sakura struggled to blink back her tears for the hundredth time.

She was done crying.

* * *

**31 January 1216 A.S. – 22:56**

"Librarian-san…"

"Annaisha."

Sakura stumbled a bit as her short legs struggled to keep in stride with the purposeful ones of the librarian, "Pardon?"

The lady in red let out a short, abrupt sigh and stopped to face her with a hand on her hip, "My name - it's Annaisha. Stop with this 'Librarian-san' nonsense," she swiftly turned on her heel and continued her journey towards the front of the library.

Sakura blinked a few times at the, well, rather rude form of introduction but she quickly shrugged it off and kept following… _Annaisha._

Once they reached the front of the library, Annaisha-san quickly stuck her finger in a small, spherical receptacle lying on the front desk and then swiped it across the kanji seal carved into the large double-doors of the library. The ink? blood? was absorbed into the wood within a few seconds and Annaisha-san carelessly wiped the remainder of the liquid on the hem of her dress.

"Now then," the librarian turned toward Sakura with clasped hands and a wide smile that seemed extremely out of place on her pallid face, "Let's get you a summons, eh?"

* * *

**1216 A.S. - ?**

She should have said no. She should have walked away. She should have _run_.

Sakura had had no idea how dangerous this really was.

Annaisha-san had warned her of the dangers and Sakura had been stupid and overconfident and so _fucking desperate_ that she had shrugged them off because _it would be worth it._

Well, it's not. It's not worth it because she's going to _die._

And how sad is that? Haruno Sakura is going to die alone in some pocket dimension because she was so hungry for undying love and affection that she had ignored all the red flags.

Ha, red.

Red like Annaisha-san, like the blood under her fingernails, like the already scabbed over claw marks spanning the length of her left thigh.

It wasn't _fair_. They were supposed to be like Kakashi-sensei's ninken.

They were supposed to be smart like Pakkun and sweet like Guruko and kind like Bull.

They were supposed to be loyal.

They were supposed to _love_ her.

Why were they doing this? Why couldn't she just get what she wanted for once in her life? Why couldn't things go right for her?

Why?

Sakura sniffled and scrubbed her hands against her cheeks, likely smearing blood and grime and tears and who-knows-what else across her face. Growling, she pushed her self into a sitting position, back against the cave wall, left leg stretched out to be as comfortable as possible. It still stung.

At least she could feel that.

The lack of hunger and fatigue was really starting to mess with her.

She knows that she should be hungry and thirsty and tired by now but she's stuck in this feeling of staticity. She's been able to close her eyes and shut off her brain for a bit every once in awhile but it's hard to sleep when you're not even tired.

Sakura grunts lightly as she pulls another thread of her shorts from the healing wound on her leg, tearing a bit of the scab in the process. Her lips twist in displeasure as she watches a bead of blood rise up and then slowly trickle down the side of her thigh until it dries there.

Huffing in dissatisfaction, she once again takes stock of herself and her surroundings - anything to keep her mind busy.

Start from the top of her head, down to the tip of her toes, and then out.

Sakura runs her fingers through her shorn locks as best as she can. Once beautiful and clean and down to her waist, her hair is now caked with dried mud and blood and cropped to her shoulders in what must be a truly horrid chop.

Better her hair than her.

She has a couple of nicks on her face from the branches and that one time she face planted, but they're nothing serious.

Ah, look at that, the cut she has below her ribs is starting to turn green. She'd thought that wasn't serious either.

She wonders why it doesn't hurt.

Her dress is in shambles, torn apart for make shift bandages and from being caught on things while she ran. It's more a shirt than a dress at this point.

Her shorts are still decent, just torn on the left leg. Ya know, the claw marks.

She wiggles her feet and wrinkles her nose at the slight ache she feels in her right ankle. She must've rolled it. At least her sandals look like they're in relatively good shape.

She breathes deep and closes her eyes for a moment.

And then immediately opens them when she's not met by darkness, but the sight of red red red.

Okay, then.

The cave.

The cave is… cave-like. It's dark and grey and brown and kind of cold, she thinks.

There are exactly 347 rocks in her line of sight.

She has seen 2 bats and 32 insects.

She has… They're back. Her guards. There's… two of them this time?

Huh. That hasn't happened before.

* * *

**31 January 1216 A.S. – 23:48**

"No, no, no. Bend your pinkies like this, and your thumbs like this."

Sakura snatched her hands away before Annaisha could touch her and blew out a frustrated breath between her pursed lips as she fell back to lie on the floor.

The Ram hand-sign was infuriating.

They had all learned the hand-signs in the academy, but it was different now. Annaisha-san wanted her to _perfect_ them and do them efficiently and quickly and, just, _ugh._

Really, Sakura was just frustrated with herself. She should already have this mastered. She was a shinobi. Shinobis knew how to do hand-signs, Sage damn it.

"Now, now. There's no need to throw a fit Sakura-kun," said the librarian, as she scooted her way over to lie down beside the girl.

Sakura inched away slightly when she felt a piece of Annaisha-san's hair tickled her elbow. Didn't that woman know what personal space was?

"I just- what if I'm not able to do it? What if I mess it up and I go-" she dramatically gestured with her hands, flailing them around above their faces, "POOF!"

"Well, then you'll go POOF!" Annaisha mockingly flailed her limply held hands.

"Annaisha-san!"

"Look, kid. Do you want to do this or not? Because I don't have to be here, helping you. I could be at home with a nice cup of tea, reading that book I have about electrophysiology."

"What's-"

"Do you want to do it or not?"

"Ugh, fine."

"Good. Now, sit up. This is how you hold your pinkies, and then you bend your thumbs this way and cross these fingers and, there! See? Now, practice."

Sakura grumbled to herself half-heartedly about bad teachers as she practiced folding and unfolding her fingers into the perfect Ram hand-sign.

"Alright," began Annaisha as she stood and dusted off her dress, "Let me see you go through all the hand-signs as quickly as you can."

Sakura swallowed as she too stood up and straightened out her dress. She looked around nervously, they were still in the library, though they had now navigated down into the basement where they were surrounded on all sides by the records of Konoha. She wondered if she'd ever be allowed to pursue the shelves…

"Ahem."

Yes, of course. Okay. She can do this.

_Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ra-_ Sage damn it.

Okay, again.

_Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram!_

She quickly turned her head up to direct her probing eyes at Annaisha-san. She felt a grin tug at the corners of her mouth at the approving head tilt she got and was about to ask if she was ready when…

"Great! Now practice until you can do them all in less than 2 seconds. I'll count!"

Sage damn it.

* * *

**1216 A.S. - ?**

Sakura scrambled to sit up straighter and pull her left leg under her in order to hide her injury. It was a hopeless endeavor, but she preferred to look as least vulnerable as possible.

Her eyes skittered across the floor of the cave in search for.. there! Her hand snaked out and grabbed the rock with the slightly sharp edge. Just in case. She curled her fingers around it as hard as she could without cutting herself.

And then, she waited.

Not for long.

The two of them stalked into the cave and out of the shadows. In this lighting, she could just barely make out any of their features. It was enough to know that these two were not her usual guards.

Her hand tightened around her make-shift weapon and she held back a hiss as she felt it dig into the palm of her hand.

"Hello."

_Hello? Hello?! _First of all, what? Second of all, what? They could speak? And the first thing they said to her, after all that she'd been through, is "Hello"?

Sakura choked down a hysterical laugh.

"Hello," she replied and blinked at how hoarse her voice sounded. Which, if she thinks about it, isn't that surprising. She gave up talking and begging and asking questions around the 300th time she counted to 240.

"You have not eaten."

The voice sounds... slightly concerned, but mostly annoyed, like a mother scolding a petulant child for not eating their broccoli. It's a woman's voice, slightly husky, but definitely female.

"I'm not hungry," she repeats in a defiant tone for what must be the tenth time.

The one that has yet to speak steps forward and Sakura instinctively flinches back. They pause in their next step and stand back, tilting their head to the side.

"You must eat," it says. Male. An even deeper voice, strong, used to commanding people and being listened to.

"Why?"

It's a genuine question, one that she had voiced several times over and never gotten an answer for. They just kept pressing her to do it without giving her any reason to follow through. And Haruno Sakura does not do things without reason.

"It is the only way you will leave this place."

"Why?"

"It is our contract. You eat, we serve."

Sakura wanted to bang her head against the cave wall. Of fucking course she had been matched to a summons that practices such a traditional and barbaric ritual.

"Why do I have to eat _that_?"

"It is tradition," says Female, "It has power. It gives you power."

Sakura's brows bunch together, "Why would you want to give _me _power? Isn't it enough that you would be my summons? That we would be tied together?"

"Because you are worthy," the two of them intone together.

Lunatics. She had reverse-summoned herself into a world of lunatics.

A third presence makes itself known with a low growl. Another one that she doesn't recognize. They walk up to the Male and Female with their head bowed, holding something she can't quite make out in between their teeth.

The Female nods and the third unknown slowly approaches Sakura. She tries to scoot back against the wall but she's already pressed into it as hard as she can be. She whimpers when she sees what is grasped between it's teeth.

It's the _thing._

The unknown drops it with a splat at her feet and then turns to leave.

The Male and Female's eyes bore into her, "You must eat."

Sakura looks down at the thing on the floor of the cave. It's covered in blood and other unidentifiable fluids with small specs of dirt and who-knows-what else clinging to it.

She can't believe the only way out of this nightmare is to eat a fucking brain.

A brain.

Fuck.

She resentfully glares at the Male and Female, but it's half-hearted at best.

This is her fault.

She had thrown herself to the wolves.

* * *

Hello… This is also cross-posted on AO3 under the same name, same username (vapidravenclaw) if you'd prefer to read it there. I know I like AO3 better than this hell site. Heh.

I'm… slightly unhappy with the way this has turned out. However, if I don't just get over it and write it and publish it, nothing will ever happen because I'll agonize over it for days. So, I'm just writing things and then publishing them without editing. Sorry if that makes it a horrible read, feel free to tell me so. Anyway… Bye! Enjoy the holidays if you're in the U.S. and you celebrate them! If not, have a lovely weekend anyhow!


	4. MONKEY

_She can't believe the only way out of this nightmare is to eat a fucking brain._

_A brain._

_Fuck..._

_This is her fault._

_She had literally thrown herself to the wolves._

-

**1216 A.S. - ?**

Yeah, no, she can't do this.

She needs to stall.

She tore her eyes away from the brain, a literal brain, and flicked her eyes up to the beings that expected her to take a bite out of it like it's a fucking apple, "So, uh, what should I call you?"

"You must eat."

Sakura felt a twitch beginning to develop in her right eye. It was the Male speaking again and Sakura met his dark eyes with a scornful glare not dissimilar to the ones she had seen Sasuke-kun give the worst of his fan club.

It, however, didn't cause him to bow in submissive embarrassment as the fangirls had done. Of course not. He was a hulking wolf, at least half a meter taller than her and twice her width. Even sitting there, relaxed, with half-lidded eyes and lips covering teeth that could probably snap her in half, he was terrifying.

But there was something oddly captivating about him, as well. His red-brown eyes and multi-colored fur reminded her of a painting she'd once seen during one of her rebellious runaways (mom and dad had been fighting about her again and she just wanted to go _outside_ and be _free_ to act like a kid for once). Sakura had ended up in the red-light district market, ducking behind strangers to avoid the eyes peeking at her from alleyways and tugging on the skirts of women in an attempt to get directions back home. She had been getting too much attention from people she didn't want to look at her and not enough from those she wanted help from.

Tears running down her face, regretting going through with her impulsive scheme for independence, Sakura had stumbled into a booth covered with a thin green sheet. She had looked for the attendant with wide, burning eyes and come up empty; and so, she decided that this was a good temporary hiding place. Safe, for now, she finally relaxed a little bit and looked around the makeshift tent.

Nothing caught her eye: generic cat statues, portraits of people she didn't recognize, clay depictions of the Hokage Mountain… Nothing, until she saw it.

It was an abstract painting of grey and gold with stark lines of black threaded throughout. She was mesmerized by the mixing of colors that she had never seen before at the tender age of six and she couldn't help but reach out to touch it. Right before Sakura's hand made contact, the woman who must have been the attendant of the booth pulled the makeshift curtain aside and screamed at her.

She was pulled out by her elbow and thrown out onto the gravel riddled with glass and trash, being given a stern talking to all the while. It was worth it though because before she had been pulled away, her fingers had brushed along the span of the painting and it had felt like soft, goose-fleshed skin.

Sakura wondered if this stony wolf was just as soft.

Probably not.

What was she doing again? Right, stalling. Stall, stall, stall.

"I will, uh, eat," she stuttered, "But, uh, I was taught that introductions are polite. And that I shouldn't, uh, take food from strangers. So," she breathed a nervous laugh, "Names?"

Sakura anxiously rubbed her hands up and down her thighs only to quickly clasp them tightly together in her lap when she noticed the female wolf track them with her eyes. She was, though smaller, more frightening than the male in Sakura's opinion. Her features conjured no ideas of softness in Sakura. Her eyes were darker than any black she had ever laid her eyes on and her fur just as dark, like flowing lines of ink come to life.

She, like the male, was so very relaxed that her eyes had gone half-lidded. However, unlike him, she had yet to move since she had first sat across from Sakura. She sat still like a statue one would see in a museum, her eyes were the only thing to show any sign of life and they seemed to follow Sakura's every movement.

As a child, she had always enjoyed the nighttime, the starry night, the fireflies, the moon, the figures of shinobi hopping from roof to roof, the silence.

But everything about this wolf's demeanor made Sakura want to hide from the night, from the thing she loved the most.

The nervous clearing of her throat echoed in the silence of the cave.

"We… have no names, young one," came the soft, deep voice of the female, "But… If you would like, you may call me Mother."

Silence.

Sakura's eyes ping-ponged between the male and… Mother, waiting for an answer from the other and trying to ignore the awkwardness pervading the already stale air of the cave.

He nods at her, "Father."

Of course.

-

**1 February 1216 A.S. – 00:53**

"I'm going to ask you one more time Sakura-kun. Are you sure about this?"

"Yes," she grunted, agitated with being asked the same question over and over again for the past hour.

Annaisha-san's nostrils flared at the rude response and Sakura internally cringed but refused to back down and apologize. The librarian had asked her if she was sure about going through with this nearly a thousand times now. Sakura was sure. She hadn't been this sure since she decided to become a shinobi.

Sakura looked at the scrolls spread out around her, covered in sloppy kanji and ink splatters where she had pressed her quill too hard in her hurry to get every thought and idea down on paper. After she had finally gotten the seals down, her and Annaisha-san had spent nearly half an hour going over possibilities and plans that conform to those possibilities.

There was no way to know for sure what summons she would end up with. There wasn't some survey or quiz she could take and get a result. Sage, the world doesn't even know how many summons animals there are. The possibilities are endless. So, instead, they planned for the _type_ of summons they assumed she'd get.

Sakura thought she'd get a gentle but loyal animal, something intelligent enough to be non-combative but still, ya know, badass. And Annaisha-san agreed, she presumed that Sakura would get something that matched her personality: sly and smart, but soft and steadfast. Something with hidden potential.

-

**1216 A.S. - ?**

They… may have been _slightly_ wrong.

Sakura wondered if she ever really knew herself at all. Because, wolves? She never would've guessed at wolves.

"So, Mother and, uh, Father, _why,_" and, here, she couldn't help but sarcastically use air quotes, "must I eat?"

"Because you are worthy," they replied.

"Yes, yes," she flapped her hands at them exasperatedly, "You said that before. What does that even mean? _Worthy?_ Worthy of what? Worthy, _how?_ What did I even do to be worthy of anything? Whatever 'anything' _is_."

"You are worthy of our gift," said Father, a rather grave undertone to his words. This was clearly a serious, perhaps ceremonial, matter.

Sakura figured that meant it was not appropriate to break out into hysteric cackling. _Gift?_ The dirty, blood and fluid-covered brain of some dead animal was a _gift_? To who? Her? Certainly not. Sakura's idea of a gift is a new kimono or set of kunai, not a fucking raw brain.

Deep breath.

"Okay. And, _why_ am _I_ worthy of this… gift?"

Mother moved for the first time since her arrival, standing on all fours and tossing her back in a proud motion reminiscent of something Sakura had seen a protagonist of a romance movie do. With great bravado, the Mother began listing off all of Sakura's "worthy" qualities:

"During your journey to this place, you demonstrated an ability to communicate well and tenacity to continue to do so, even in the face of silence…"

_Sakura peeked over her shoulder at the grey-speckled black wolf that had been following her since her arrival in this dimension. It's red eyes, nearly glowing in the moonlight, met hers, and she quickly turned back to face the faint trail that lied in front of her. Fucking wolves. Who'd have thought?_

_Sakura huffed and smacked away a stray stick hanging from an overhead tree branch. She had been tromping through the forest like a dazed and confused and slightly pissed off hiker for hours now. Every attempt at conversation with her companion was ignored. (And, okay, she wasn't really expecting a wolf to respond with, like, words - but c'mon, not even a growl? a huff? a whine? a howl?_

_Ugh. _Wolves_.)_

_But she refused to give up. If she didn't talk to someone, she'd go insane out here in this dark, horror movie-esque forest. _

_"So," she began, a crooked smirk quirking her lips, "Come here often?"_

_Nothing._

_She sighed through her nose, flicked a bug she didn't recognize off of her arm, and accepted defeat. For now._

_Suddenly, her quiet acquaintance, flew past her, speeding a few paces ahead of her before looking back at her with it's wide, redredred eyes, seeming to communicate some silent, urgent message to her. And then they darted off to the side, off path, into the darkness of the trees. _

_And Sakura? Well, Sakura followed. Of course she did. _

"You showed a great capacity for learning and thinking on your feet…"

_Sakura tripped into a small clearing, wincing at the sting of scratches that felt like they covered her entire body. Sage, her dimension's trees never hurt her this much (Was that because they were created by the First Hokage? Or had Sakura always been especially cautious in her actions?)_

_Sakura's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a thready whimper. Her eyes automatically tracked the sound and the sight caused her to let out an audible gasp. She quickly ran to the pup lying on the ground, falling to her knees beside it's head and looking to her side to meet the red eyes of the one that led her here, question in her eyes. The wolf whined softly in reply and nodded it's head at the small wolf lying on it's side. _

_Sakura examined the pup, trying to find what could possibly be wrong. She quickly noticed that the front right leg was lying at an odd angle and correctly presumed that it may be broken or fractured somewhere along the limb. _

_She bit her lip in thought. She had no medical kit, no bandages or splinting tools, no pain medication… Hastily, Sakura grabbed the skirt of her dress and _tore. _She clenched her fists around the ragged fabric and looked to the wolf that had accompanied her up until this point and nodded her head toward a weak looking tree nearby. It tilted it's head at her and then lazily trotted away._

_Sakura's mouth curled in irritation._

_The wolf came back to her with a small stick in it's mouth and dropped it at her knees, wagging it's tail like an overexcited puppy awaiting approval from it's owner. A small, reluctant smile tilted her lips and she nodded her head in thanks. _

_Turning her attention to the injured pup, she apologized repeatedly as she placed it's leg in a makeshift splint, grimacing and softly mewling in pain as the pup dug it's claws into her thigh in an attempt to get away from her nursing. _

"Your words reflected your loyalty and devotion to those you care for…"

_Sakura watched as her former travelling companion disappeared into the woods, the pup she had just wrapped up like some type of canine mummy gently held in it's maw. It looked so small. It kind of reminded her of Kakashi-sensei's ninken playing with the rats... before they killed them. _

_Damn, she misses her sensei and Sasuke-kun and..._

_"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I even miss Naruto. I've got to get out of this place."_

"And, now, you show us your willfulness and your righteousness in your refusal to take our gift; no matter how silly we may think your refusal to be."

Seriously, Sakura knows that they're animals, but what is wrong with these guys? Not wanting to _eat a raw brain _isn't _silly._ Sage.

Sakura sighed.

"You know what - I - whatever," she rolls her eyes and throws her hands in the air, "What kind of brain is this?"

Father's head perks up like an overeager puppy, an odd look on the extremely large and scary looking wolf, "This is the brain of a brown bear. We hunted her just hours ago."

Sakura cringed a bit at the "her", she'd rather dehumanize this as much as possible. It was bad enough that she was thinking about going through with this, she didn't want to associate the act with an actual entity.

She licked her lips apprehensively, "Fine."

"You will eat?" asked Father, his tone hopeful.

"Yes... on one condition."

"Yes?

"I want to sign the contract _before _I... consume... this," she vaguely gestured at the brain.

"There is no contract."

Sakura deadpanned. There... is... no... contract?

"What?"

"There is no contract."

"I _heard _you!" she burst out, "What do you _mean, 'there is no contract'?_"

Sakura had finally rose to her feet and was now dramatically gesticulating, eyes wild, tempted to kick the brain lying at her feet at the face of the male wolf.

"There is no need," came the soft monotone of Mother, "We follow the one worthy of our gift."

Sakura calmed slightly but still remaine standing, arms held tensely at her sides, "So," her voice strained, "This - me eating this... gift, creates a contract?"

"And more, yes."

"I - okay. Okay," she breathed, coming down from the sudden rush of adrenaline and rage. She fell back down to her knees beside the "gift", suddenly exhausted.

She just needed to get it over with.

Sakura reached down and picked it up with both hands.

She brought it up to her mouth and swallowed back a gag.

She could do this.

Sakura looked up with gleaming eyes, meeting the dark and impassive ones of Mother. Mother nodded encouragingly and Sakura closed her eyes in resignation. She brought it to her lips and tore a piece off with her teeth. She chewed. She swallowed. She tore off another piece. She chewed. She swallowed.

She tore off another piece. And she opened her eyes to meet Mother's as she chewed.

Mother smiled proudly with menacing teeth, her dark eyes swirling with pleasure.

Sakura swallowed.


End file.
